Apparatus and method for software-based control flow checking for soft error detection to improve microprocessor reliability

摘要

A method and apparatus for software-based control flow checking for soft error detection. In one embodiment, the method includes the instrumentation of one basic block of a target program to update a signature register with a successor basic block signature at an end of the basic block. In addition, the basic block is instrumented to verify that contents of the signature register match a basic block signature at a beginning of the basic block. In one embodiment, an instruction is inserted within the basic block to cause the signature register to store a predetermined value if the contents of the signature register match a basic block signature. In one embodiment, a basic block may be subdivided into a plurality of regions; each region is assigned a signature and instrumented to update the signature register at a beginning of each region. Other embodiments are described and claimed.